An Empire, If You Can Keep It

The University Bookman is running a symposium this week on conservatism and empire post-9/11. My contribution, “Metternich vs. McEmpire,” is here. It’s a look at two uncomfortable truths: America is indeed an empire of sorts, however much we deny it; and Europe’s great conservatives, from Burke to Metternich to Salisbury, were pillars of empire for a reason. Do these facts leave any room for an anti-imperial American conservatism?